One Last Spoiler
by Rae325
Summary: "Nothing changes in this place, River knows, and yet the air feels different as she walks to her bedroom. She feels everything shift around her, and for an instant River could swear that the TARDIS is about to appear." Clara realizes that saving the Doctor means saving his wife. Library fix-it.


"Good night everyone," River whispers as she closes the door to her children's room. She doesn't remember how long she's been here with these three children who never seem to change. The fact that they grow no older doesn't bother her really; time has never been linear in her life. All that matters is that one of those children is a lost little girl who reminds River so much of a version of herself that she can hardly remember. Charlotte doesn't age, but River could swear that she does change, that she seems grateful and content to finally have a mother once more. And the other two children – familiar in a way that River can't ever explain to herself are such a mystery. She speaks to them in Gallifreyan, and River wonders if they weren't the Doctor's last gift to her, the shadows of the children they will never have. The thought should be melancholy, but when River looks at the children she can never feel sadness.

Nothing changes in this place, River knows, and yet the air feels different as she walks to her bedroom. She feels everything shift around her, and for an instant River could swear that the TARDIS is about to appear. But the disturbance dies away, and River sits on her bed with her diary in her hands. She opens it up to check that nothing has changed. Reads each and every word she had written about her trip to the Planet of the Rain Gods. And then about her adventures on Easter Island. She reads of the Doctor, her Doctor, her description exactly as she remembers. And yet she feels something shifting still.

"Is someone here?" River calls out.

As if summonsed by River's voice, a young woman appears. River knows this woman, though she is almost certain that she hasn't met her yet.

"What are you still doing here?" Clara asks.

"This is my home."

"Not anymore it isn't," Clara insists. "It's mine now."

"You're Clara."

Clara smiles and recalls, "You haven't met me in this timeline yet have you?"

"No," River says with a frown. "So how do I know you?"

"Because this timeline isn't real anymore. This version of you isn't real anymore."

"It most certainly is," River says, folding her arms across her chest. "And this is my home."

Clara comes closer, and her eyes hold a sense of wisdom and calm that River doesn't recall from the first time she met the young woman. "I remember you," River says as the memories wash over her. Memories that she shouldn't have. Of being a shadow. Of connecting with this woman. Of Trenzalore. "But I don't understand why you've come here."

"I was born to save the Doctor," Clara says with a smile.

"Then you should be with him. You must never let him travel alone."

River watches as the walls of the house around her shimmer like a hologram.

"Do you see now?" Clara asks.

"You saved me?" River asks, watching her own hand disappear and reappear again. "Why would you do that?"

"Like I told you, I was born to save the Doctor. I'm everywhere that he is, and when I was in the Library, I knew that what I needed to do to save him this time was to save you."

"You took my place?" River gasps.

"It's ok. This is just a part of me really. One of infinite parts."

"Thank you," River says to the girl of whom she now remembers feeling so jealous. "But I can't leave here. I have children."

"You don't have a choice."

Everything shimmers, and River begins to cry.

"But my children need me."

"I'll look after Charlotte. I promise."

"What about Amelia and Brian?" River asks, panic filling her chest.

"You will see them again," Clara says smiling. "I'm afraid it's time for you to go."

"Thank you," River says, though the words seem insufficient.

"I'll see you again too," the young woman promises as River watches everything fade away.

She wakes to a different home than the one she has come to know. The plain calm white walls are gone, replaced by the colors and noise of the TARDIS. And by a man. Her impossible man.

River reaches out to touch the Doctor's face, his new face. She's never seen this face before with it's more pronounced lines and greying hair.

There are tears running down the Doctor's cheeks. "Happy tears," he says with awe as River wipes the wetness away.

The Doctor pulls River to him, cradling her to his chest. "Oh River. You're really here."

"Hello Sweetie," she whispers into her husband's neck.

"And what sort of time do you call this?" the Doctor quips, pulling back so that he can study River. She looks just the same as when he saw her at Darillium.

River laughs. "Shall we do diaries then?" She pulls her notebook from her pocket.

The Doctor stops her then with a firm hand on her arm. "I know where you are River. You were dead. I can still remember it." The Doctor shakes his head, as if trying to erase the memory from his mind and let it be replaced by the one of Clara miraculously saving River.

"I don't appear to be dead anymore. Clara saved me."

"Yes she did. She's a clever girl. You'll like her."

"I owe her a proper thank you."

"I'll introduce you in the morning. She did mention that you were awfully jealous," he teases.

"Oh shut up," River says, pressing her lips to her husband's. "You're still a good kisser."

"Ah yes, you haven't seen this body yet."

"I like it," River says, her eyes twinkling. "You've gone for something more mature this time."

"Yes, well, what was it you said to me? I was insisting on the face of a 12 year old."

"You did this because of what I said in New York?"

"I thought that my wife might like a husband who appeared her age."

"You chose this body because of me? But I was dead."

"You were still my wife. Always."

For once River can't bring herself to chide him for being sentimental. "I like the face. Wouldn't mind taking a look at the body."

"Oh River. You never change."

"Neither do you," River replies, looking into new green eyes. And then she realizes – those eyes – she had seen them every day she lived in the data core. Had hugged and kissed two children with those same beautiful eyes.

"What?" the Doctor asks as River's grin grows.

"Spoilers."

"No. You can't have spoilers. We're in the same timeline now. No more back-to-front timey-wimey. You and me, River Song. No more spoilers."

"Just this last one Sweetie. But I promise it'll be the best one yet."


End file.
